The last laugh about the value and approach of community organizing

I normally don't write about national politics in this blog, except as it relates to urban issues, or I suppose, civic engagement.

Barack Obama's early work experience was as a community organizer. (I think of what I do as applied community organizing.) Classic community organizing is about talking to, connecting and engaging with, and motivating people to act. Obama's ground (and higher level) organizing in the primaries and now for the national election, has been almost unprecedentedly great--focused, complete, deep, "machine-like. (See for example the books by Saul Alinsky although I am fond of the book Organizing for Community Action by Steve Burghardt)

So no wonder it looks like McCain is going to get his clock cleaned (although I hate to say this one week before the election) according to the Associated Press story, "Obama ahead or tied in 8 key states."

I don't think Sarah Palin should have been so derisive and dismissive of community organizing during her speech at the Republican Convention...

But this raises a broad point about social change, the same one raised when Hillary Clinton angered people when she said "it takes a president to get things changed." (paraphrased) when discussing the civil rights movement. It takes many different actors, doing different actions, at many different levels, to yield fundamental social change. And it takes many years...

Anyway, this article, written in response to the Palin controversy, is a good resource on the issue, "GOP Attacks on Community Organizers Provoke Media Backlash."